Ensequence and MetaTV have announced a strategic partnership to provide cable operators, networks and developers with an integrated solution that they claim will streamline the development and deployment of interactive television applications.

The partnership was announced at the National Show of the American cable television industry in New Orleans. The two companies will work together to expand MetaTV’s existing open XML-based authoring system to provide a standard for real-world, deployable applications across legacy and OCAP compatible set-top boxes.

Their combined solution includes the Ensequence on-Q Authoring Suite and the MetaTV Digital Application System. The companies claim it will offer faster and less expensive development of many applications, including navigation, video-on-demand, enhanced television, virtual channels, polls and voting, with easier management and lower cost operations once deployed.

“Our partnership with Ensequence offers a joint solution to the market that makes deploying digital TV applications cost-effective and competitive” said Irv Kalick, CEO of MetaTV. “The integrated system not only allows that content to be refreshed easily, but it enables cable operators to manage those applications for less cost.”

Ensequence said they had chosen to integrate with the MetaTV Application System to help developers distribute their applications more easily across the fractured cable environment. Dalen Harrison, CEO of Ensequence added: “Our two solutions are an ideal fit for getting digital TV applications from source to set-top box.”